Freak Show
by jcon539
Summary: “Step right up! To view oddities of the human race! This is one show you won't want to miss, folks!” Being different is terrible...especially when your put on a stage and called a freak on a daily basis. You just got to take it and move on.
1. The Ice Man of Antartica

**Ah, yes! Another story! I know...I have too many to keep up with.**

**This will be written like Betcha Just Might Swallow Your Tongue...with the multiple POVs.**

**Keep in mind this is 1930's 1920's time period.**

**Visualize the look of things from back then.**

**Read On!**

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Heaven help me for the way I am~ Criminal

Chapter 1

"_Come one, come all to the greatest show on Earth! View the exotic oddities of the human race! Step right up folks! This is one show you won't want to miss!"_

Can't he come up with something else? I couldn't tell you how many times my ears have been assaulted with that booming voice over-pronouncing every other word. I could recite it in my sleep.

I stand up as the curtain opens. Bright stage lights glare in my eyes, half blinding me. I can hear the rumble of the people who paid ten cents to see the "…exotic oddities of the human race!" I smooth my hair and step out into the spotlight.

It's show time.

"_Lookey here, folks, The Ice Man of Antarctica! Skin and hair camouflaged to match the snow! Isn't he something?!"_

I spread my arms and turn to show the crowd my white skin. I can hear some ladies giggling at my bare upper torso. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. People are so gullible.

I run my fingers through my snowy-white hair and shake it to show them it is not a wig. The audience stares at me wide eyed, waiting for what I'm going to amaze them with next.

I flip up to stand on my hands and navigate around the stage. The crowd claps, begging for more tricks. I can feel the blood rushing to my head from being upside down.

"_Would you look at that talent, folks?"_

I handspring back onto my feet and do a quick back flip to the approval of the crowd. I flip and cartwheel across the stage until I am back to where I was first standing. I hold my arms out in a "ta-da!" pose and put on a big fake smile. The curtain slowly closes to hide me from view.

_"The Ice Man of Antarctica! Only one of the many human oddities we have to show you!"_

I let my facial muscles slump back down to a frown.

I can hear the crowd clapping for more.

I walk off stage passing Axel; also know as, The Fire Cannibal. I don't know where they get these names from. Axel isn't made out of fire…so it really isn't cannibalism. I've never even been to Antarctica either! I grew up in Chicago. It's all lies. The Ringmaster makes up ridiculous stories and names to attract people.

"How's the crowd?" asks Axel checking his fire batons.

"Not enough brains to fill a thimble," I reply bitterly.

"Ha! I could've told you that, Riku!" laughs Axel, "Could you do me a favor and go check in on the twins for me? They went and holed up in their room. I think something went wrong in their act."

"Sure," I answer regretfully. The twins are weird. I mean, everyone here is weird, but they are _weirder._ Axel was the one that brought them into the show. I don't know where in the world he found them. Most of the freaks steer clear of them. They're just a little unnerving.

"_He can't be burned! He lives off a diet of pure fire! I give you, The Fire Cannibal! Watch him tame the untamable element!"_

I snort at that introduction. I'm the tannest man in the world if Axel only eats fire.

I make my way around the various props and other freaks lounging backstage. I wave at a few of the freaks and stagehands I know. I don't feel self conscious about walking around without a shirt and only wearing ridiculous baggy blue pants like I use to be. Everyone else has to wear a stupid costume too.

The Ringmaster makes us dress funny because "It adds to our exotic reputations."

I don't argue with it. I don't have anywhere else to go if I get kicked out of the freak show. So I just swallow my pride and wear my stupid costume.

"Hey, Xigbar, do you know what happened to the twins?" I ask a man leaning back in a chair smoking a cigarette and polishing a pistol.

He looks up at me with his remaining eye and thinks for a second before blowing smoke out of his mouth in a smooth line, "Something went wrong with their act."

"Do you know what went wrong?" I ask feeling uncomfortable around him. Xigbar, also know as, The One-Eyed Bandit, is wanted in 5 different states for shooting various people. He has the best aim in the world. He can shoot a target the size of a deck of cards from 300 feet away. And he can shoot a hole in a coin when it's thrown up in the air. I'm not sure what his real name is. He joined the freak show to elude capture. Nobody is sure how he lost his eye, no one has the guts to ask. There's a lot about him we don't know, but he's a good guy from what I've seen.

"No clue. They locked themselves in there," replies Xigbar pointing his thumb at the dressing room door.

"Great," I sigh walking over to the bright red door. I knock on the door lightly. I can hear muffled voices behind the door go silent. I listen for a minute before knocking again.

"Who is it?" I hear two voices say in synch with each other.

"It's Riku. Axel wanted me to see if you guys are okay," I shout through the door.

"We're fine," comes the muffled reply.

"I'm not giving up that easy! Open the door!" I say smirking a little. I can hear scurrying in the room before the door is unlocked. Sora, the brown haired twin, pokes his head out keeping the door mostly closed and smiles at me pleasantly.

"We're fine," he says making his smile somehow wider.

I'm not convinced, "Let me see Roxas."

"He's sleeping," replies Sora quickly.

"You're a terrible liar," I reply pushing the door open. The dressing rooms are usually very small with only a make up counter, a costume rack, and a small cot for the freak to sleep on. The twin's room has two cots crammed in here. They don't have many personal items. Just clothes and random pictures they've hung up on the wall.

I see what went wrong instantly. Roxas is sitting on the make up counter chair clutching his bleeding forearm. Blood is running off his arm in a steady stream.

"Sora cut too deep," whimpers Roxas.

The twins have a very strange connection to each other. I don't know how it works exactly, but if one twin falls out of a tree the other twin will get the bruise. Or if one twin is angry the other twin will become enraged to match his brother's feelings. Their act involves one of the twins dragging a knife across his arm and the opposite twin holding up the same arm with a fresh bleeding cut. The twin with the knife holds up his unhurt arm. The crowd usually goes wild over this trying to figure out the trick.

But there is no trick.

The twins are just weird, even among freaks.

"Let me see it," I say pulling Roxas' hand away from the cut. Roxas' arm is littered with numerous healing cuts and scars. I can barely see any unharmed skin. I'm sure Sora's arm looks the same. They switch roles every few acts. They both heal quicker than normal, but it still sucks to get your arm sliced open three times a day.

This cut is a particularly nasty one. It cut completely through his skin down to the next layer of red tissue.

"God damn it, Sora. Why don't you just cut his whole arm off next time?" I say grabbing my handkerchief out of my pocket and pressing it into the cut.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean too," says Sora shrilly.

"We're probably going to have to have a doctor patch him up," I say shaking my head.

"No! Then the Ringmaster will find out! We can't get into anymore trouble with him" shrieks Roxas mimicking his brother's frantic composure.

"See a doctor or bleed to death. It's your choice," I reply standing up. I want to go nap before the next show. I don't have time to deal with Axel's problems.

"It'll heal. We don't need to see a doctor. But thanks for the help," says Roxas clutching the handkerchief around his arm nervously. Sora slumps down on a cot and rubs his forearm where the cut on Roxas is.

"No problem," I say walking out of the room. I checked on the weird twins, I did a favor now I am owed a favor. That's the rules of show business. It's always good to have a few favors saved up just in case of an emergency.

"Find out what went wrong?" asks Xigbar when I walk past him.

"Sure did," I reply walking past him. I don't feel like gossiping. Word spreads fast around here. I need to get some fresh air out of the freak house.

I navigate my way to the backstage exit. I should've grabbed a shirt or coat to cover my skin but I can't do anything about it now. The smell of cotton candy and fried foods hit my nose as soon as I open the door. I can hear the screams of people riding the Bullwhip and the bray of horses in the animal house. I enjoy the feeling of the night air ignoring the stares directed at me. I'm use to being stared at. I was born with white hair and skin as white as paper. I can't go out in the sun for more than five minutes without getting a nasty sunburn. I don't know exactly what went wrong with me, but I guess it all happened for a reason.

I can't say I like being in the show with the other freaks, but I fit in perfectly here. I can't complain.

"Mommy! Look at him!"

I see a little girl tugging on her mother's hand and pointing enthusiastically at me. I walk faster to get away from them. I'm use to being stared at, but that doesn't mean I like it.

"Pointing is rude, honey," replies the girls mother looking at me with distaste. The mother pulls the little girl away with a sweep of her skirts.

I fight back the self-pity I'm feeling. I can't let myself dwell on that sort of stuff.

"Hey, Riku!"

I turn around to see Kairi smiling at me still wearing her stage costume. It's a form fitting pink suit thing. Kairi, also known as, The Girl Made of Rubber is really flexible. She can wrap herself up like a pretzel. It's painful just watching her act.

"How's it going?" I reply putting my hands in my pockets.

"The crowd was fantastic today. They loved me," replies Kairi smiling with self-adoration.

My day was great, thanks for asking.

"Good to hear," I mutter walking around a group of normal teenagers. I learned my lesson to stay as far away as possible from people my age. They can be a real pain.

"Why are you so grumpy? Cheer up, Riku!" chirps Kairi perkily. Kairi is a real sweet girl, but I just don't feel like dealing with her abundance of energy at the moment.

"I'm not grumpy," I mutter crossing my arms.

"That…totally proved your grumpiness to be true!" laughs Kairi.

I feel my face twist into a frown. I turn down a road that heads back to the freak show building. My walk has been ruined by Kairi. I might as well take a nap and wait for the next show.

I walk in through the back door that's only used by people in the show. Kairi follows after me like a lost puppy, "Aw come on, Riku, I was just joking!"

"I'm going to go to my room," I say walking towards the back of the building where the dressing rooms are.

"Fine! Go be grumpy! See if I care," pouts Kairi putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh man, somebody call the papers! The Man from Antarctica is in a chilly mood!" yells Demyx, The Fishboy. He had webbed hands and feet. His skin is even scaly looking. He swims around in a giant glass pool for his act.

And Demyx is **not** funny.

The group of freaks playing cards erupts into fits of laughter. I glare at them before wrenching my door open and slamming it shut behind me. I can still hear them laughing from inside my room.

I hate when people laugh at me.

My room is slightly more cluttered with my possessions than the twins room. I have old posters from past seasons advertising my act hung on the walls. Clothes and books are piled against the walls. I have a few things that use to belong to my mother when I lived in Chicago hidden away in a suitcase. I like my room. It's not much, but it's enough for me.

I lie down on my cot and cover my head with the pillow to block out any sound. My skin is almost the same shade of white as my sheets.

If I ever do get around to going to Antarctic I will blend right in. No polar bear is going to be eating me.

Although, I'll probably never leave this carnival. I have nowhere else to go. Who would want someone that looks like me?

I'm just a freak.

I was born a freak.

And I will die a freak.

Until then, I'm going to live the life of a freak.

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**I was looking through stories and they all...seemed...um...same old same old.**

**So I decided to write something offbeat!**

**Hopefully my idea hasn't been written already.**

**Review? Give me some good freak ideas! What characters do you want in the story?**


	2. The Seer of Souls

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

"Don't try to lie to me, you know it's not even worth the trouble," I say bored already.

"Aw come on! I don't know what happened to your stupid stone thing!" whines Demyx. I can tell he's lying. I can feel his untrustworthiness coming off him in waves.

"You can tell me where it is or I'll just find out myself," I say reaching my hand up to brush my hair away from my left eye.

"Okay! Okay! Here, you can have it back!" shrieks Demyx seeing what I was about to do. He pulls my aquamarine stone out of his coat pocket and places it in my hand careful not to touch me.

I hold the stone up to my good eye to make sure it's right before putting it in my pocket out of sight, "You really shouldn't take my things."

"I'm sorry Zexion. I just like the color of it," apologizes Demyx scratching his scaly palm nervously.

"You're forgiven," I say shortly and walk away to wait for my time to become common entertainment for the imbeciles in tonight's audience. Larxene is on stage now making sparks shoot out of her hands. I don't even have to sense Larxene to tell she's enjoying her time on stage. It's pitiful how she needs the adoration of gullible idiots to stay happy.

"_Look at how she channels the electricity with nothing but her hands! Any normal man or woman would be dead from attempting this dangerous feat! Give her a round of applause folks!"_

The audience obediently claps for Larxene, The Spark Bug. Larxene takes her hand off the electrical wires and curtseys with little sparks still falling around her. The lights dim and Larxene walks off stage towards me, "Good crowd tonight."

I grimace as I brush past her feeling her self adoration. It's a very annoying trait. The stage is much darker and more mysterious now. Because that's the sense my act is suppose to create.

"_The Seer of Souls! You can't hide your secrets from his eye of all knowing! Can we have a volunteer from the audience?"_

Many people raise their hands excitedly. They giggle thinking they will be able to fool me.

They won't.

Nobody can fool me.

I point lazily at a woman in the front row. She gets up enthusiastically and walks up the stage stairs careful to not have her skirts catch on them. The woman walks towards me with some hesitation now. I don't care how unfriendly I look. I just want to get this spectacle of me over with.

"Hold your hand out," I order her.

She holds her hand out to me and I touch fingertips with her. I can feel her aura intensify.

"Your name is Clara. You're 28 years old. You came to this show with your husband Michael and your 6 year old son Thomas."

The woman's eyes become stunned, "Well…that's…that's right!" she says to the crowd.

"_Your mind is like an open book to the Seer of Souls!"_

The audience claps for us. But I can feel that they aren't quite convinced yet.

"Here take this bag. There are colored stones in it. I'm going to go behind this screen where I cannot see you and you are going to pull the stones out at random," I say to her before walking behind the screen.

"_He can sense any color pulled out of the bag from behind the screen! There is no trickery to this talent!"_

Since I touched Clara I can sense her more than I usually would be able to.

"Red," I say loudly. The crowd claps.

"Green"

"Purple"

"Blue and Yellow," I say when Clara tries to trick me by pulling out two stones at once.

I walk out from behind the screen. The crowd feels unnerved. They don't like my demeanor. I don't care.

"Well anyone can do that! There's a trick to it! There…there must be mirrors or something! You're just a fraud!" shouts a man in the second row standing up. I whip my head around to stare at him. The cocky expression on his face freezes.

He's regretting ever speaking up.

"You think I'm a fraud, do you?" I say walking down the steps to him, "I beg to differ…Jim." I shake my hair out of my left eye. My left eye is completely black. There is no other color but midnight black. I hide it from view not because I care about its appearance, but because it has a strange effect on people. Jim's face goes slack when I pierce him with one look of my eye. The other audience members have a fearful aura now. I don't look at them because I only want Jim to be under my control.

"Still believe I'm a fraud, Jim?" I ask.

He's stares back at me with wide fearful eyes. He can't move as long as I keep eye contact with him. I can feel every detail about Jim and the more I sense the more I dislike this man.

"Whose is this lovely lady sitting next to you? Certainly NOT your wife! Is it Jim?" I say coldly, "Your poor wife is at home hoping you will come home tonight. But here you are with Emily who is NOT your wife and NOT the mother of your four children."

I can feel shame and embarrassment from the woman sitting next to Jim.

"Go home," I order.

With a dazed expression on his face Jim walks up the aisle and out the doors. The woman named Emily rushes after him. I feel a little smug about putting that jerk in his place, although I'll probably have the Ringmaster after me about scaring the audience away now.

I can feel apprehension and fear from the remaining audience.

"Show's over," I mutter walking backstage. I don't care if I get kicked out of the show. I hate performing my "freakish talents". I can survive outside of the freak show. I just have to hide my eye and pretend I don't know too much when I first meet people. It's just easier to stay at the show. I get a room. I don't get bothered too much. I get fed on a regular schedule. Which is more than some people have now with jobs being scarce.

Some of the other freaks would be dead by nightfall if they left the show. The Twins are helpless. Demyx, Riku, Saix, and Marluxia look too strange to go among normal people. Nobody enjoys being in the freak show, but it's really the only place for us.

"You know, you probably shouldn't have done that," says a stage hand named Leon.

I ignore him and go deeper backstage to the lounging freaks.

I don't look up when any of the freaks try to call out to talk to me. I don't care what they have to say. With my freak talent I have realized I don't really like people. I know their underlying nature better than anyone else alive. And it's nothing short of vindictive.

I go into my room for privacy. I open up the book I was reading before my time to become a common spectacle. I like my time to sit and read in peace and quiet. Even though books are written by untrustworthy people I still find them amusing.

I'm in my room barely ten second before I hear a knock on my door. I sigh and close my book keeping my place with my finger, "Yes?"

The door slowly opens and Axel's bright red hair assaults my eyes, "Hey Zexion!"

I narrow my eyes at him feeling an odd emotion from him "Is there something you want to ask me, Axel?"

He scratches his head nervously and smiles wryly at me, "Nothing gets past you, eh Zexy."

I clench my teeth at that nickname that the Freaks have been trying to call me recently. I don't find it amusing at all. I don't know how putting a "Y" at the end of someone's perfectly good name is appealing. "I would appreciate if you used my given name. Would you please just tell me what you want? I really want to be left alone."

"Oh sorry, I forgot you didn't like that name," smiles Axel obviously lying, "I was just going to ask a favor from you."

I purse my lips unhappily. I don't like favors. But I do owe Axel a favor for fixing my door when Saix knocked it down in one of his rages, "What favor would this be?"

"Nothing big, I just need you to find out a name for me," replies Axel eyeing the bottles on my night stand.

"Who?" I ask shortly.

"A man that works at a newspaper stand on the corner of Sunset and Traverse," replies Axel with a glint in his eye. I feel…redemption from him.

"I'll go tomorrow," I say in a dismissing tone.

"Thanks, Zexy," smiles Axel before darting out of my room.

I wrinkle my nose at the mention of my "nickname". It is going to stop.

Axel's favor is easier than I though it would be, although I am not sure of the purpose for it. There is something off about Axel. Something in his past he's been trying to hide. I haven't pried much into it. But if Axel is trying to reconnect with his past then I may have to go searching for answers.

But not yet. I'll wait a while to see what happens.

Another knock on my door interrupts my thoughts. My face twists into a sneer. "Who is it?"

"Um…it's Demyx! Can I come in?"

"No," I say back. I really can't stand that scaly water loving freak.

The door opens anyway and said freak steps into my room, "The Ring Leader is pissed at you."

"What's new," I shrug. I'm not too concerned about the Ring Leader. I don't think he will do much about me scaring off the customers. I don't think what happened earlier will scare off any of our audience. On the contrary I think it will attract people hoping to see my eye for themselves.

"Well…what if he kicks you out of the show?" asks Demyx timidly.

"He won't," I reply.

"Oh…well…do you want to come out of your room…maybe?" asks Demyx. His aura seems somewhat frightened and somewhat hopeful.

"No," I say briskly, "Now if you please excuse me I'm busy."

"Oh…okay," says Demyx quickly backing out of my room the hopefulness vanishing.

I don't like Demyx very much because his aura always seems to be timid or frightened. I don't like those feelings. I am above such weakness.

I open my book and start reading again.

All I want in my life is peace and quiet.

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**I think The Twins story is going to end up being the most interesting.**

**And Axel's is taking shape in my head.**

**This chapter was just setting up a lot of the plot.**

**Plus it's easier to explain Zexion's freak talent through his own eyes.**

**So....Review? AND! Read Time Spent Alone. Cause you might just like it.  
**


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